As a group answer the following questions. Write your response after each question. Each group member can answer, change, and add to the response.
Why does the author use a “good” day as the subject of the novel?
The author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, describes the book as a “good” day as the subject of the novel to try to show you that this would have been a good day in his former life living in a forced labor camp. To us this day seemed to be filled with struggles that may see out of reach to us, but on the other hand for Ivan it was just another day and things could have gone much worse.
How is personal pride or dignity linked to material wealth in the camp? Is material wealth the only means of preserving personal pride or dignity? Why or why not? Explain how those prisoners who maintained their personal pride or dignity accomplish this.
Personal pride and dignity are linked to material wealth in that in Ivan’s life he is a laborer and therefore if he were to get a reward for hard work then that reward would be that much more valuable to the person. Ivan at least measures the values of money, or even goods on how hard you worked to earn it and therefore giving you a purpose and reason to do your work well. Material wealth isn’t the only way to have self pride and dignity but the work that the laborers did could be that rewarding to some or even the finished product of their labor
Shukhov believes that personal pride or dignity is necessary for long-term survival. Give a few specific examples that defend or refute his belief
Shukov has a lot of pride for himself and what he does. Although he does not show it outright, he believes that he can keep going. When the workday ends, Shukov wants to keep going. He wants to finish the job that he started and bring his creation to a finish. He also holds onto his saw blade, which will become a nice knife for him. These trivial matters were huge for the prisoners, and every little thing gave a man more confidence and a greater will to survive. Fetikov, though, brings pity upon himself, and he is taken advantage of. When beaten, he weeps, and others look down upon it. Had he braved the blows, the others would respect him, and he would respect himself.
Under what circumstances do the ethnic difference seem to dissolve within the camp?
Whenever there's a job to be done, or a situation to be avoided, ethnicity and racism dissipitate. No longer do the people quarrel among themselves, but they work to get their job done to prevent themselves from the guradhouse and to gain them more rations. On the other hand, if a man takes away from such things, he and his race are instantly seen as inferior and unwanted, as in the case with the Moldavian. He was kicked by his own squad because he had fallen asleep. And while he was being picked on, nobody noticed any other ethnic background but his.
5. Identify the prisoners who were corrupt by power given to them by the institution.
Among the corrupt prisoners, the two that stood out the most were Tsezar and the captain. Others, such as Pavlo, had moments of corruption, but Tsezar took things fro granted and often took advantage of others. The captain was always with him, and they talked about movies, of all things. Tsezar would even stay in the office and not work. The lazy man was able to rest up in the heat while his commrades froze outside. 6. Draw an organizational chart that reflects the chain of command within the novel.
(From low to high)
Prisoners:
Prisoners – Shukov
Deputy Squad leaders – Pavlo
Workforce:
Squad Leaders – Andrei Tiurin
Guards
Deputy Lieutenants – Priakhov
Lieutenants / Officers – Lieutenant Volkovi
Concept Tracing
For each section in the novel, trace the development of the following concepts – work, authority, and survival. As you trace them, begin to analyze the significance of the concepts. If someone already posted “your idea,” try to add something too it. Don’t simply post the same thing. You may edit, add to, revise, etc. your group’s page only.
Work
Authority
Survival
Section 1: page 1-28
Work for these prisoners was the only thing that kept them alive. They valued the work because it gave them excersise and something to do. Shukov himself says that a real prison would have been preventing them from doing any work at all (7). On some occasions, having extra work in the morning was beneficial. when Shukov does not rise immediately after reveille, he is forced to clean the guardhouse. Normally this extra work is a nuisence, but today was different, for it was cold and the guardroom was heated and he could stay warm for this part of the morning (7,9).
The leaders and foremen of this prison camp have full power over their prisoners. Most of them have no choice but to obey them, for a single incident could give them ten days in the guardhouse or three days penalty of work (7, 28). Sometimes the guards would not even be on duty when a prisoner is charged, and others would use sheer brutality to get their point across. one lieutenant used a whip when necessary, and often when not (26). There were different levels to the authority, with the prisoners having none, the squad leaders having some over the prisoners, and the guards towards the top but below the lieutenant, which can naturally cause tensions between who has the right to say what (22, 26).
Shukov and the other prisoners are working under inhumane conditions. At negative 17 degrees with an inadequate supply of food, the prisoners are forced to make big choices. One of Shukov's decisions was to exchange a pair of leather boots that favored more than anything else he had for a pair more suitable for the winter climate (11). For pure survival, he gave one of his most prized possessions. Also, Shukov hides a ration of bread in his matress by widening a hole in it and then sewing it back up (21). This method of survival showed how food was in fact scarce and everything needed to be rationed wisely. On page 21 as well, Alyosha is said to have made a hole in the wall for his Testament book, his guide to survival.
Section 2: page 29-57
Work was what the men were living for, and life was only sustained through working. Failure to cooperate would surely result in the loss of food, friends, and possibly their own life. The creation of the squads helped to solve these losses by putting up a sort of friendly competition among the prisoners (48). By working as a squad, each man had to contribute his part to the job, otherwise his group would be punished. It was not a singular ideal, but a group effort in which men of different race and culture, some of which who didn't get along with each other, had to settle their differences and work together (44-45) to beat the cold and recieve their food for the day. Even after personal differences were settled, the prisoners would also have to adjust to the cold and get working (44). For after work has begun, the body would start to warm. Some days there would be a snowstorm to get them off of work for a while, but these days would have to be made up on Sundays, but it was something a man could look forward to (42-43).
The only person between the prisoner and the guards and lieutenants were the squad leaders. Each squad leader led a group of prisoners - Shukov's being the 104th - and gave them their commands from his authorities. They would fight to get their men more food or less work, and the actions of the squad leader had a huge effect on the prisoners (36). He could make their stay tolerable, or a living Hell. For the prisoner, he began to think less on his own and began to only think what he was told (35). He had nothing to think on his own, and his own thoughts could lead to bigger problems, especially when the escorts had permission to shoot them without warning (31). The Squad leaders, for the most part, did their best to protect their men and keep them alive. The better the prisoner was treated, the more he would work, the more rations he would get (37) and then the process would start all over, making each squad leader an important figure in the lives of both the prisoners and the guards who watched them. With power over the guards and the camps were the Soviets. Some approved of them, and others did not, but even their authority was supreme. Even the sun was now following their rules by changing what time it was considered highest at (53)
To keep alive, Shukov trys to rationalize his rations, eating a part at breakfast and the rest at dinner (39). But today was different. He had a late breakfast, and did not eat his bread. Now he was hungry, and had to eat as much as he could to sustain himself while saving the crust for dinner. He thought of how they ate back home and realized how foolishly they ate (40). He realized now that every bite of food, every morsel, must be saved and savored, for one never knows when it will be needed for an emergency. But saving food was not enough. Hardened men were falling victim to the prison's conditions. The ex-military captian was slowing fading away under the cold (30), and every aid to survival must be taken. Wheter it be hiding the good trowel to improve work efficiency, or knowing what to wear, when to wear it, and when to rest. Shukov is careful about where he puts his trowel and how he wears his hat (31), and even how he warmed himself and sat down to eat (39). Every precaution and every advantage must be taken to survive at the prison.
Section 3: page 58-86
Work was never getting any easier. Even with food in their stomachs, the men did not wish to continue. But they had to. A power beyond their control was forcing them to continue their labor, which would not benefit them at all. By dinner -or lunch-, the men had very little accomplished (68), but Tiurin had made it seem as if they had done something useful. He knows that the work is meaningless without a good work report (69). And he seems to be altering the 104ths so that it appears that something was accomplised. For in this camp, the work did not benefit the workers by final product, but by the sheer manual labor that kept them alive, and the labor that they were forced to do. By passing it off that they had done something, they went unquestioned and gained their extra rations (69-70).
The leaders of the prison were not all as well-meaning as Tiurin. Many others thought only of themselves and how they could get something out of anything. When a squad had done its work well, they received extra rations for five days, of which, those who were higher up often took a days worth of their extra rations for themselves so that they could be fed and leave their prisoners with the meager amount of food that they were required to give them (69). Others still would do little jobs like washing dishes or handing out bowels so that they could get an extra helping of their oatmeal, and the squad leaders themselves were gaurenteed an extra helping (58-59). others would do anything they could, and they would still take anything that came their way. Some figures, on the other hand, would offer up their food to those lower than them, as Tiurin did to Palvo, his deputy (61)
Shukov planned his meals from bread to oatmeal. The crust he saved from before lunch he used to wipe his oatmeal clean with (64), trying to pick up any and all oatmeal that had still been left in the bowel. And, keeping his eyes peeled, he discovered a bit of a hacksaw blade in the snow, which he held on to for a future use (68). Everything must be taken advantage of, and an opportunity could never go unmissed. If one were to slip up and not notice something or be slow to arrive at a certain point or conclusion, he could find himself out of luck. Yet as much as the prisoners had to fend for themselves, they still had something left in them to care for their inmates and offer them a bit of tobacco (71-72).
Section 4: page 87-116
While work was slow to begin, it picked up speed when the prisoners began to warm up. They started getting into their rhythm, but just as they did, the work day had ended. They had accomplished a lot in a single day, especially since the lift was broken, and some of the workers, Shukov included, wanted more time to work (88). This was because it was their reason to live. To work and to get the job done. It was to the point where they enjoyed what they did, just not how they had to go about doing it. Other squads would even have to work after hours to finish their work (99), and some men in the 104th also wanted to finish the work they had to do.
While working, the authority among the prisoners leveled out. No longer was the squad leader above them, but he became a man equal to that of all the other men (88). The prisoners had times of equality, but the guards did not. The prisoners were threatened with being held late when the count was made wrong (96), so despite the attempts to get out and return to camp, there was no hope. Although the guards chose when the prisoners left, they could not change their rate of speed (98). For as long as they stayed in their lines of five, there was nothing he could do. Although the guard was the man who controlled the lives of the prisoners, they were not the greatest enemy. The zek's biggest enemy, was another zek (100), the men who fought against them to survive.
Surviving was not as easy as it should be. On this day, there was no firewood collected (92). Although the guards took most of it from them, there were some occasions when some could be snuck in to heat the barracks. Unfortunately, so much time was spent working that nobody had really collected any for the 104th today. They hurried to the gates only to find a man was missing (95). How he was hated! A Moldavian Spy was not in his ranks - he'd fallen asleep on the job (96). When he returned, he was hated. He had taken from them their precious time, and now they would not be the first to eat, or the first to recieve mail (99). Now, they would not be the first back.
Section 5: page 117-142
The prisoners had work to do even while in their own barracks. They had to work for themselves and for each other, to keep them occupied and to keep them alive. Shukov had smuggled in a hacksaw blade which he now planned on spending four days to make a cobbler's knife out of (125). This knife would be useful for many different things, provided he is not caught. Others still are doing simpler jobs like making tea or cigarettes for enjoyment and for health. Since Shukov saved Tsezar a spot in line - a simple job, only waiting - he offered him his bread ration because he had received more food in the mail (123), making every job as important as another in this prison camp.
Shukov had been to other prison camps. At this particular one, people tended to snitch less. The guards had become so fed up with the nagging prisoners, that they had stopped listening to the squealers (122). Although this slight deviation from authority was accepted, the guards had other ways of getting at them. Fetikov was beaten over a matter of bowels that was likely not his fault (125),
Eating was the sweetest taste of victory to be tasted. Another day survived. Another day with a full stomache. It makes one think that they can get through this (117), no matter how tough it gets. The more time that a prisoner spends at these camps, the stronger he gets (123). Not physically, but physcologically. When Fetikov is beaten, it is because he is newer, and does not know how to handle a situation. He makes others pity him (125), which makes him appear weaker than them, and especially weak to those who had served the longest in the camp.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denizovich - Worksheet.docAs a group answer the following questions. Write your response after each question. Each group member can answer, change, and add to the response.
- Why does the author use a “good” day as the subject of the novel?
The author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, describes the book as a “good” day as the subject of the novel to try to show you that this would have been a good day in his former life living in a forced labor camp. To us this day seemed to be filled with struggles that may see out of reach to us, but on the other hand for Ivan it was just another day and things could have gone much worse.- How is personal pride or dignity linked to material wealth in the camp? Is material wealth the only means of preserving personal pride or dignity? Why or why not? Explain how those prisoners who maintained their personal pride or dignity accomplish this.
Personal pride and dignity are linked to material wealth in that in Ivan’s life he is a laborer and therefore if he were to get a reward for hard work then that reward would be that much more valuable to the person. Ivan at least measures the values of money, or even goods on how hard you worked to earn it and therefore giving you a purpose and reason to do your work well. Material wealth isn’t the only way to have self pride and dignity but the work that the laborers did could be that rewarding to some or even the finished product of their laborShukov has a lot of pride for himself and what he does. Although he does not show it outright, he believes that he can keep going. When the workday ends, Shukov wants to keep going. He wants to finish the job that he started and bring his creation to a finish. He also holds onto his saw blade, which will become a nice knife for him. These trivial matters were huge for the prisoners, and every little thing gave a man more confidence and a greater will to survive. Fetikov, though, brings pity upon himself, and he is taken advantage of. When beaten, he weeps, and others look down upon it. Had he braved the blows, the others would respect him, and he would respect himself.
Whenever there's a job to be done, or a situation to be avoided, ethnicity and racism dissipitate. No longer do the people quarrel among themselves, but they work to get their job done to prevent themselves from the guradhouse and to gain them more rations. On the other hand, if a man takes away from such things, he and his race are instantly seen as inferior and unwanted, as in the case with the Moldavian. He was kicked by his own squad because he had fallen asleep. And while he was being picked on, nobody noticed any other ethnic background but his.
5. Identify the prisoners who were corrupt by power given to them by the institution.
Among the corrupt prisoners, the two that stood out the most were Tsezar and the captain. Others, such as Pavlo, had moments of corruption, but Tsezar took things fro granted and often took advantage of others. The captain was always with him, and they talked about movies, of all things. Tsezar would even stay in the office and not work. The lazy man was able to rest up in the heat while his commrades froze outside.
6. Draw an organizational chart that reflects the chain of command within the novel.
(From low to high)
Prisoners:
Prisoners – Shukov
Deputy Squad leaders – Pavlo
Workforce:
Squad Leaders – Andrei Tiurin
Guards
Deputy Lieutenants – Priakhov
Lieutenants / Officers – Lieutenant Volkovi
Concept Tracing
For each section in the novel, trace the development of the following concepts – work, authority, and survival. As you trace them, begin to analyze the significance of the concepts. If someone already posted “your idea,” try to add something too it. Don’t simply post the same thing. You may edit, add to, revise, etc. your group’s page only.